(from Aram, a country in southwestern Asia) A Semitic language, used in Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Syria, etc., and spoken by thc Jews during and after the Babylonian exile (606-536 B.C.). It was used by Christ. Fragments of the Old Testament (Daniel 2:4-7:29) and Saint Matthew's Gospel were written originally in Aramaic. Free paraphrastic translations of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic were made at first orally in the synagogues and later reduced to writing.